A friend had a question about installing Ubuntu Linux on a Mac running Parallels Desktop for Mac since reviewed it earlier this year. I thought it might be of general interest. So, I’m posting a response here. He asked…

I picked up a MacBook Core 2 Duo with 120 GB Hard Drive and 2 GB of RAM. Its wonderful so far. I also downloaded the trial version of Parallel (Build 1970 dated 1 November 2006). I have with me the Ubuntu Edgy (6.10 ) Live CD that I used successfully to install on a standard PC … but am not at all having any luck booting fully from the live CD under Parallels so that I can install it in a virtual environment. I wonder if I should try the Beta version of Parallels instead?You mentioned in your report a few weeks ago that you were not having any problems installing Ubuntu with your version of Parallels. Do you have any general suggestions?

First, woo! Nice MacBook configuration.

I’m running the latest public Parallels Desktop for Mac beta and it seems pretty stable to me so far. Two suggestions regarding the issue you are seeing.

• Trying downloading the current ISO and install it using the ISO file instead of a physical CD disc. There might be some small drive tolerance issue that allowed to install fine on the standard PC you used but not the MacBook.
• You might want to try Ubuntu 6.06 LTS instead 6.10. I seem to recall reading that some people were having problems with 6.10. I installed 6.06 LTS last summer when I was testing an earlier version of Parallels Desktop for Mac.